Just where might I find this information? I just don’t know where to look.

Look everywhere.

We know what we should do. We know where to find information. There
is an article a day, every day, on most of the topics listed above in
nearly every remaining newspaper on the planet.

The problem isn’t lack of information. It’s whether that information
is correct and more over, it is how to implement, measure and execute.
Easily and for the regular man/woman that rarely changes much in their
daily routine.

We received your brochure. It had information that we read. Then we
recycled it and then went back to our normal day to day actions.

What are you going to do to support me make a change? How will you
change the world’s behaviours? And why? This is how you stand out from
the crowd.

The world doesn’t need another know-it-all. We need humble servants
prepared to make a difference through accountability and execution, and
all of it based primarily on the information we already have. No more
spilled ink. Time for sweat.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

You sot at your desk counting the sound of tics of the clock on the wall. With frustration you begin to speak out loud.

"I've been with the company for over 10 years!"

"But, yet again, this new job has better pay and I would be able to afford more for my family."

"Wait! I can't, we would have to move...Everything is here."

"No...I won't get a promotion if I stayed!"

You still can't figure out what to do. You've tried to narrow down the decision; made a pro's and con's list, spoken to friends, family, and still, zilch.

As a last resort, you flip a coin. Heads you change your life forever, tails, you stay. As the coin turns in the air and falls to the ground, deep down inside you're hoping the coin shows heads..You glance down and your heart drops, you begin to realize, that your life is about to change...

Nervous yet excited, all of your previous doubts begin to escape your mind. You start imagining how life will be with this change. You can't believe it's actually happening and you can't wait to tell your family and begin your new adventure.

We've all been there, stuck in a predicament, afraid to make the wrong decision.

"What colour?"

"I don't know what to do"

"Should I try it?"

All of these processes have gone through our minds. We become scared of our own potential to change and persevere. We end up cemented in our "comfort zone," falling into a routine we call ordinary. Never moving forward..

Imagine all of the missed opportunities! That girl that ask you to dance, but you were too shy, your friends inviting you to a social event, but you didn't go, your children's play, but you decided to stay late at work. These all could have provided essential growth to your life, but we constantly say no..Why? We like to play it safe, away from change, away from harm, away from risk.

The second we allow ourselves to say yes is the moment we can enjoy the simplest things in life. Even if it's not a life changing experience, we can still gain from it. You will begin to realize that the more you allow yourself to do so, the easier it becomes. Life will flourish and you'll wonder why you never did this before.

So why is it so difficult just to go with it? We all know that the grass will be greener once we've jumped over the fence.

"Maybe I'm stressed? Depressed? I might be having an anxiety attack right now."

Many of us are caught in this situation every day, or similar ones just like it. Whatever the situation, we feel helpless and have no outlet or way to solve this problem. We have all tried to ignore it, but eventually it piles up. We feel like we're suffocating from the depth of anxiety within us. We can't fall asleep at night, our mind races constantly, and all you can think of is how tired you will be tomorrow.

Last resort, you end up putting the radio on. After a couple mindless songs with Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, your favourite song comes on! Your head starts bobbing to the beat, your shoulders, and feet follow. Flash backs of your youth practicing Vanilla Ice's dance moves in the mirror run through your mind.

The music takes you over the stress you felt before vanishes and before you know it, your home. "What happened?" You ask yourself. One moment you can't breathe and the next you're on top of the world.

Music has a huge influence in our well being. It can help that quiet teenager who is bullied at school through a rough day, trying to heal the wounds on your heart from that last break up. It can make you forget about that interview coming up, or the everyday stresses of life.

If we allow ourselves time everyday to listen to music to sooth our psychological struggles, life will have colour and purpose. We can have growth and substance in our lives, as it can help develop our individuality.

Music has the ability to make day to day chores seem easy, enhances the exercise experience, and can give an edge to a professional athlete getting ready for the game. Whatever situation you might be in, music has the ability to lift you up.

So what do have to lose? Try it, next time you feel down, turn up those speakers, and let yourself go.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

We like things the way they are. No changes please. Stay the course.
Let’s just make this easy and move on, I’m too busy to think right now.

No time to think. Little to discuss and even less we’d like to debate. That’s hard work and requires and opinion that isn’t spoonfed to us by our friend who seems to know more than us.

So how will you get a new idea to take shape? Who will care if nobody
cares? Who will debate the
finer points of your new concepts if
everybody wants to stay normal?

You will need to be consistent and find a way to build a conversation
people are interested in and that they will rarely consider
controversial. You will also need to find the outliers in your arena.
Those that will beat the drum for change and engage in a conversation
for a new future. They are out there and you might have to take every
one of them out to coffee, or work for them, or make them sit up and pay
attention by supporting their efforts. Whatever you propose, this is
your tribe. Become a part of their network and build with them. Maybe
even to an even bigger vision combining and collaborating together.

To gain traction there is very little you can do beyond continuing to
iterate your ideas and speak with people, one on one if you must,
daily. Hard work gets you where you want to go if your idea even stands a
chance. Keep building a conversation that people might want to attach
to. Continue to support others see what their life could look like
inside of your future vision.
Make the change seem easier than doing the normal routine.

Set out to make people’s lives better.

You don’t stand a chance if you can’t crack open the door of
complacency but shouting louder will never work. Your work must nip at
the edges of regular life, slowly pushing those edges outwards to
include your ideas and work.

Telling people what to do rarely succeeds. Having them discover their
own best life inside your work is much more difficult but stands a
greater chance to last over the long term.

Friday, October 18, 2013

You start counting down the months, days, and nights. Your
mind becomes distorted, feels like you can’t move forward. The day is coming,
the one that will change the rest of your life. Fear has now knocked on the
door, and you've opened it.

You begin flipping through pages of the contract, trying to
focus on the important points, but the words begin to fade and turn into a
different language. The realtor and salesman are explaining each page to you,
and you begin to pretend to understand and nod along.

“Initial here, sign here.” Your hand slowly trembles and
becomes heavy trying to sign your name. You begin to space out and all you can
hear are pages flipping, pens clicking, and muffled toned voices.

The salesman and realtor shake your hand. “Congratulations on
purchasing your very first home!”

The reality begins to set in. I've done it. I was stressed
for nothing. The months prior to this day you couldn't sleep, focus or enjoy
the everyday essentials of life.

Fear consumed your life, and you were okay about it...

Slowly the fear you once lived with is gone. A weight has
been lifted off your shoulders. For
months leading up to the day of buying your first home your life seemed dark
and cloudy. Every day you hoped it would get better, but didn't You didn't want to do anything to change it, until the day you had an appointment set, to
change your whole life.

Fear can consume everyone, and we get stuck in a slippery
slope going nowhere. Within the example
above, just goes to show how far fear can take control of our lives. Relationships,
health, opportunities, are all examples what fear can destroy.

What is stopping you from growth and happiness? What’s on
the other side of a decision? Why are you scared?

These are all questions we ask ourselves when it comes to
fear in any situation. Sometimes we just
need to take a deep breath, and leap. If
we don’t get out of our comfort zone and try new things we will end up miserable
and stuck for the rest of our lives.

Take the first step! Say “yes, I’ll do it!” Not tomorrow,
not next week, make it today.

Many people look at fear as a bad thing. But if we have a
different approach to fear and use it to our advantage we can accomplish many
great feats. Without fear in our lives we wouldn't be able to grow and
experience life to the fullest.

Let fear be the driver to your success and not destruction.
Next time you’re invited to do something outside your comfort zone, try it! If
there is a job, opportunity, relationship, or experience you want, go for it.
Imagine what you could do if you said yes to every opportunity, where would you
be?

Hill Running

Training on Hills

-improves leg strength-speeds up stride-expands stride length -develops your cardiovascular systemWhy It Works-force the muscles in your
hips, legs, ankles and feet to contract in a coordinated fashion while
supporting your full body weight-muscles contract more powerfully than
usual because they are forced to overcome gravity to move you up the hill. The
result is more power, which in turn leads to longer, faster running strides.

Going Up

While starting, shorten your stride. Don’t try to maintain the pace you were running on
the flat.

Aim for
equal effort going up as well as down, not equal pace

Your posture should be
upright – don’t lean forward or back

If breathing quickens you are probably going too fast or over-striding

Don't use an explosive motion it will waste energy. If the hill is long or the gradient increases, keep
shortening your stride to maintain a smooth and efficient breathing
pattern. If the gradient decreases, extend your stride again.

Maintain the same steady effort and breathing throughout.

Accelerate gradually into the downhill.

Coming Down

Visualize
gravity pulling you down the hill.

Maintain an
upright body posture

Strides can be slightly longer than normal.

The key to efficient
downhill running is to stay in control. When you start, keep your stride
slightly shortened and let your turnover increase. When you feel in
control, gradually lengthen your stride.

If you start to run out of control when
descending, shorten your stride until you feel you are back in control again.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Healthy eating habits are created through constant practice and modeling. As a parent or caregiver of a young child you are the prime adult in charge of what groceries are bought, what lessons are taught and what conversations are happening around the topic of healthy eating.

The responsibility is also on other mentors and adults in the child’s life. This may be at school, or at peers houses and other activities the child is involved with.

The more places young children can receive the message and the tool set to learn about healthy behaviour and how to practice these skills, the more chance they have of maintaining a healthy lifestyle when they are adults.

As with any skill set young children are learning such as math, writing, movement or physical skills, learning the importance of healthy foods is an essential life skill. It may very well be the most important one to make time for, regardless of how busy we are.

Children who get quality sleep, who don’t spend hours watching TV or playing video games will then understand the feeling of being energized and therefore have the ability to focus while at school and in class.

Since life is busy here are 3 suggestions to start with:

Encourage children to eat slowly, and discourage eating meals or snacks in front of the TV.

By eating slowly a child can detect the feeling of feeling full much better

Eating at the table versus in front of the TV also allows the attention to be on enjoying the meal, not rushing and better awareness to feelings of fullness

Distractions may lead to overeating, so before offering seconds ask your child to wait a few minutes to allow the brain to register fullness

Involve children in food shopping or preparing meals:

Get out some sticky tabs and spend 10 minutes going though a recipe book with your Childs and they can pick 1-3 favourites for that week

This will also shed light on their particular food preferences

If the child has picked out the meal they may be more willing to eat or try foods that you are preparing

Encourage children to drink more water.

Choose water to drink when the child feels thirsty

Avoid pop or other sugary drinks as the over consumption of sugary drinks has been linked to childhood obesity

Patience and time to allow these behaviours to become habit is key. Changing the foods a child is used to may not be an easy road to go down. Here is a quick read onWhen A Child Says "No" by Inbal Kashtan.

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

I had the opportunity to listen to a successful entrepreneur express his opinion on the gap relating to business relationships. The main point simply stated in any successful business relationship two people/parties must bring 100% of their 50% to achieve a mutual measure of success. He cited a variety of examples of what happens when there’s a deficit from either party.

This advice, obviously not limited to business seems easy to qualify but much more difficult to quantify. He explained that almost all business relationships begin with what used to be deemed the only necessary quantifier; the contract. The contract, in essence was the terms of understanding expectations for both parties. For decades, the contract has been adequate & suitable however, he pointed out with the misplaced gratification levels & an over inflation of expertise (something we covered in last weeks blog), that the contract, stand alone may no longer cover a changing business relationship spectrum.

If I didn’t have experience in business management, I may have laughed his example off - however it’s actually fairly accurate. Speaking to him after the presentation my sole question was whether the deficit in the contribution could be made up by either party to which he replied, you can’t want it more than the them. Improbable. Perhaps it comes with age, maybe it was the manner with which it was framed, but whatever the reason – it sunk in. All either party can control is putting forward their best 100% of the 50%.

Provided clear expectations are laid out at the onset and quantifiable plans are in place, there should be very little ambiguity. Of course, no system is perfect and one must always account for human factor variability, but again with 100% of our 50%, we should be far more then less productive.

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Whether it is Amy Winehouse’s death, Justin Bieber’s recent downfall in the public eye, or Lindsay Lohan’s constant attendance at the local rehab center -- being famous isn’t for everyone & it isn’t as easy as one might suspect. And these examples should be enough warnings to would-be influencers and others seeking fame.

What’s concerning is that our culture -- our world, even -- glorifies celebrities, when in actuality their lives often seem empty. We should see the unfortunate death of your celebrities as a clarion call to those of us seeking influence to be cautious.

Let’s be honest -- fame is seductive. Any influencer or communicator will tell you:

It’s tempting to want to be famous. The opportunity to have more influence, to talk to more people, to increase your followers, is sexy.

Fame draws us in with one tempting thought: the allure of more. Thousands of screaming fans. The thrill of an audience. It hits us right where we’re weakest, right where so many of us fall -- our inner being…our pride. All the while, we don’t realize we’re being led to the slaughter.

Every day, we see actors and musicians rise to fame too quickly and pay the price. And yet, we’re blind when we face these same temptations in our own lives. At the age of 27 Amy Winehouse joined many others ending life all too early, and one can’t help but think that fame was one of the culprits. At the end of the day, fame is addictive.

The problem with any kind of influence is that once you build it, you have to maintain it. If you cut ethical corners to get to where you are, you’ll have to continue those patterns to continue having influence. While there’s nothing wrong with having a platform, the requirements of it can be costly.

For many of us, standing in front of an adoring audience would be exhilarating. Receiving a standing ovation in a crowded auditorium would be exciting. Getting a hundred people to re-tweet you on Twitter would feel good. Just the thought might give you a rush. This is the thrill of fame.But the problem is that the feeling eventually goes away. And next time, you need a little more. And then a little bit more…just like every addiction.You keep trying to top your last performance. You may even start performing solely for the cheers. But at some point, even that doesn’t feel that good anymore. And you start looking for exhilaration elsewhere.Whether it is drugs or alcohol…research tells us that one addiction naturally leads to another. And an addiction is something that you have to keep feeding to feel normal. Fame is just that.Anyone who knows what it means to be addicted knows that these obsessions ultimately consume you. Every thought, every craving, every waking moment becomes captive to the addiction. The irony is that you worked so hard to build an audience -- to influence people with your words, your music, and your art -- and now it owns you. What, at one time, was a vocation now consumes your identity. You become what you do.So is all influence bad?Of course not. It all depends on our motivation.If you are seeking influence to merely be famous? You may find yourself on a path that leads to destruction. But if you seek to influence others for the sake of making their lives better because you, yourself have come to a place of peace & self-actualization…then your influence can be extremely powerful. However, as your influence grows, be cognizant of the temptations you face. Beware of the “performance mentality” and the thrill-seeking addictions of “fame”.Alternatively, consider the possibility that may not actually need fame to do your life’s work. If, however, you do, be careful in how you attain it. Remember: whatever you build, you will have to maintain.

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

....and with one click my opinion is validated. Ten & I’m coolio & OMG fifty+... I'm an expert! There are A LOT of experts amongst our networks these days, way more than there used to be when we were productive, sustainable & profitable. We’re privy to their profiles on Linkedin robust with their ultra-ego’s, confirming the demand for their grey matter. If we need more, we can be wowed by their inspiring instagrams or humored by their twerky tweets. It’s a brilliant billion dollar self effacing multi level marketing scheme.

My favorite? Paid workshops one can attend to learn how to better market themselves... when they already have a job. Translation: we’re marketing you paying money to us - to teach you how to better market an inflated version of you for.... Ah, what do I know maybe I’m in the wrong business.

What I can share is FIVE FREE, NO FRILLS solutions to better market ourselves.

be confident & comfortable with yourself. Your authentic self. If we’re really as cool as some of our projected self’s - there’s no 20BILLION/yr anti depressant play. People appreciate real.

establish a personal set of guiding principles / values. Doesn’t matter what those are – it matters that they’re yours and you’re consistently working them. People like consistency.

do what you say you’re going to do when you say your going to do it. In the tsunami of inconsistency, you will remain anchored. People gravitate to grounded.

commit to owning what you’ve agreed to be responsible for. Bank the blame, exorcise the excuses don't just do it - OWN it. People recognize leadership.

work smart, work hard, work long & repeat. Make it your mission to become a student of whatever game you chose to play. Every play. Every day. People vaunt winners.

This may err on the side of old school, but we have to be honest in asking; is new school working for us?

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Weekly
in our business, we have a planned time to get together with our teammates for
a 1hr staff meeting to discuss various topics. What may range from a guest
speaker, to a professional development topic, to a team-building theme, we
utilize the one-hour to the most of our abilities knowing that we only have one
hour together.

With
new teammates recently added to our organization today we thought it would be
timely to explore elements of both self-awareness and areas of personal
development. In a non-judgmental & planned environment we delivered
supportive feedback for each and every teammate – an action to stop doing, an
action to start doing, and an action to continue to do. In essence, every
teammate provided those three areas of feedback for each of their respective
teammate so by the end of the meeting every teammate received 16 pieces of
feedback on 3 different areas.

Eye-opening? Not particularly. Excellent? Yes.

Why was it not eye-opening? Well, the feedback (for the most part)
should have acted more of a reminder for people. If we understand ourselves at
any capacity, we should have an understanding of what we do well & what we
don’t. And if we don’t – chances are we aren’t secure enough in ourselves to
admit it. However, today’s exercise allowed others to provide it – which forced
us to go to a deeper level of understanding our behavior!

Which leads us to the topic of self-awareness.

According to Aristotle, "Knowing yourselfis the beginning of all wisdom."

Why is this so important? Numerous studies indicate that
individuals who score high in self-awareness are happier and achieve greater
success than those who lack it. Self-awarenessenables people tobuild their lives around their
strengthsand better manage their
challenges.

As people become more self-aware, they are usually amazed at the
abilities of the conscious mind to choose, handle situations with deliberation,
and behave appropriately for different occasions.

On the flip side, the unconscious mind is a powerful force driving our
behavior. Within our unconscious lie veiled assumptions and beliefs that
formulate what is called default behavior. The dictionary defines default as
the “failure to perform a task or fulfill an obligation,” which means that
default behaviors are reactive responses that occur when we fail to consider
the appropriate response.

Becoming aware of our personal reactive tendencies is crucial if we
want to make sense of our toxic behaviors, understand why we have permitted
these gremlins to continue, and develop a plan for taming them.

Our attitudes are choices, some of the most important choices we will
ever make. Attitudes are reflections of what goes on inside our heads. They
affect everything we do—positively or negatively. A negative attitude acts like
the accelerator of a car. When we put our pedal to the metal, we learn very
quickly that driving can indeed be dangerous to our health and to our career
aspirations. Default behaviors occur when we decide not to act, but to react.
And default behaviors may not represent our best side or our ideal self.

Becoming aware of the effect our personalityand default tendencies have on the
people in our lives helps us engineer better communication and leadership
styles. The four quadrants of the brain generally correspond to specific
behavioral patterns. Our brain's hardwiring drives how we think, feel and
act, which in turn defines who we are!

Currently, fitness professionals are moving away from the standard crunch style of core training and are being better trained to know what type of core exercises should to be doing/ and not doing with customers.

I'll provide you with an example I see daily:

Example 1:

-Male

-Works in an office at a desk all day

-Always on phone and computer/Always sitting

-Bad posture, rounded shoulders

-Experiencing low back pain/tight neck and trap muscle/cramping

Loading the Spine or Spinal Flexion

The first question to ask is: What is the function of the core? Would it make sense to wind this guy any tighter or continue to put extra load on his back and neck??

Answer: The answer is obviously no. The function is to stabilize the spine……so why would we repeatedly
do crunches and sit-up variations that put the spine into flexion?

The traditional sit-up imposes about 730 pounds of
compression on the spine. This means that every time you do a sit-up, knees
bent with feet on the ground, sitting up to vertical, that amount of pressure
is crushing your discs.

Application: Work the core as it was meant to function.
Lot's of front support, side support, chops, lifts, and anti-extension exercises
with a healthy dose of full body compound exercises. Plank variations, side plank
variations, cable stabilization exercises, core roll-outs, dynamic medicine
ball training and cable chops and lifts.

**We
need to promote good postural habits and doing crunches put our body in poor
position for good posture. So we need to progress his core and work it in a different way**

Core Exercises and Progressions

Customer
must be able to perform an exercise properly for the entire set before
advancing with exercises!